Long Way North

Sacha is fourteen, the daughter of a noble Russian family, growing up in court circles in Petersburg. Her grandfather was a famous explorer who set out for the pole and vanished with his ship, and the family name has been stained by it. Sacha believes she has worked out where he is; when nobody listens she leaves home and finds work on a ship going north. Rémi Chayé directs in his first film. The design is what sets it apart. There are no outlines in the drawing; the shapes are built directly out of fields of colour, with flat colour instead of shading. The result stands close to a graphic poster and gives the ice landscapes an entirely different texture. The subject is stubbornness. Whether Sacha is right stays unclear for a long time, and the film gives her not as a hero but as a child holding on to something. The passages aboard ship are the best part; the crew does not want her and acceptance takes time. Chayé had worked on films such as Ernest and Celestine, and this is his first as director. It won the audience award at the 2015 Annecy animation festival. It runs about eighty minutes and the narrative never wanders. Who it is for: viewers who like hand drawn European animation and polar adventure. Who it is not for: the narrative is simple, there are few characters, and the danger sequences are hard for small children.